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    Milwaukee police say a 15-year-old boy has been arrested in connection with a shooting that killed another boy of the same age and left five young women injured. News reports Wednesday didn't say whether any charges have been filed against the arrested teen. Police say the shooting occurred about 11:30 p.m. Monday on the city’s north side. The Milwaukee County Medical Examiner’s Office identified the slain boy as Davion Patterson. Police say five women, ages 18, 19, 21, and two 22-year-olds, were taken to a hospital for treatment of nonfatal injuries.

      Georgia’s Senate and House are in a power struggle over funding and permitting for hospitals. Senate Republicans sliced $87 million from universities’ teaching funds on Tuesday after nixing an $18 million health insurance increase sought by universities. That equals the $105 million lawmakers allotted to Augusta University’s hospitals even as the university negotiates giving control to Wellstar Health System. Marietta-based Wellstar Health System closed two Atlanta-area hospitals that cared for lower-income patients, and it is trying to block a competing hospital in Jackson County. That new hospital could financially benefit the family of Republican Lt. Gov. Burt Jones. Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Blake Tillery says Wellstar’s behavior raises questions.

        Authorities say a suspect has been arrested on charges that she set fire to a building that was slated to become Wyoming’s only full-service abortion clinic. Police say 22-year-old Lorna Roxanne Green was arrested on Tuesday. She is suspected of starting the May 2022 fire at a building in Casper that was being renovated to house the Wellspring Health Access clinic. No one was injured in the blaze, but the fire delayed the clinic’s opening, which was initially planned for last summer. It was most recently scheduled to open next month. The arrest was announced Wednesday, hours after a judge temporarily blocked a ban on abortion that went into effect a few days ago.

          A judge has temporarily blocked Wyoming’s new abortion ban. Wednesday's decision means abortion is legal again in Wyoming. The new ban took effect Sunday, making abortion illegal in Wyoming despite earlier rulings by Teton County District Court Judge Melissa Owens that blocked a previous ban. Owens’ decision suspends the ban for at least two weeks amid a new lawsuit. Owens is not weighing in for now on another new Wyoming abortion law being challenged in her court, a first-in-the-nation ban on abortion pills. Gov. Mark Gordon says he's disappointed by the ruling but looks forward to the state defending the abortion ban in court.

            The U.S. abortion landscape is far from settled nine months after the U.S. Supreme Court ended the nationwide right to terminate a pregnancy. With states now in control, advocates on both sides await a major decision by a Texas judge on the legal status of abortion pills. A judge on Wednesday put on hold a new ban in Wyoming, and Hawaii's governor just followed other Democrats in protecting abortion access. Most Republican-controlled states have banned or restricted abortions, making them illegal at all stages of pregnancy in 14 states. Most Democrat-led states have moved to protect access, and legal challenges have popped up nationwide.

            WEDNESDAY, March 22, 2023 (HealthDay News) -- Statin use is low for primary prevention of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD), with the lowest use seen among Black and Hispanic adults, according to a study published online March 22 in JAMA Cardiology.

            WEDNESDAY, March 22, 2023 (HealthDay News) -- Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are less likely to receive vision screening at well-child visits at ages 3 and 5 years than those without ASD, according to a study published online March 21 in Pediatrics.

            An agreement to expand Medicaid in North Carolina has reached the cusp of final legislative approval following a state House vote. The House chamber voted 95-21 on Wednesday for legislation that would direct state health officials to accept Medicaid coverage for potentially 600,000 low-income adults. One more affirmative House vote is needed Thursday before it goes to the desk of longtime expansion advocate Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper. The Senate voted last week for the agreement reached between Republican lawmakers three weeks ago. GOP lawmakers had been skeptical for nearly a decade about accepting expansion, which originated from the 2010 federal Affordable Care Act.

            Scientists have pulled DNA from Ludwig van Beethoven's hair to look for clues about his many health problems and hearing loss. They weren't able to figure out why the famous composer lost his hearing and had severe stomach problems. But they reported Wednesday that they did find clues about the liver disease that is widely believed to have killed the German composer. Beethoven's genome showed that he had a high risk for liver disease and was infected with the liver-damaging hepatitis B. The researchers concluded that those factors, along with his drinking, likely contributed to his death nearly 200 years ago.

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            New research finds that drinking caffeinated coffee did not significantly affect one kind of heart rhythm that results in extra beats. But it did signal a slight increase in another type of heart hiccup in people who drank more than one cup of coffee per day. And it found that people tend to walk more and sleep less on the days they drank coffee. The volunteers in the study published Wednesday were younger and very healthy, so the results don’t necessarily apply to the general population, but are in line with previous research that finds coffee is safe.

            Birth control pills tied to slight rise in breast cancer risk, regardless of formulation. A new study finds the single hormone pill and combination estrogen-progestogen pills confer a similar degree of heightened risk for breast cancer. Read more

            Doctors may be missing patients who are trying to cheat on tests that check if they are taking medication for opioid addiction. That's according to a study published Wednesday by JAMA Psychiatry. The researchers found that nearly 8% of these patients sometimes spike their urine by adding their treatment medicine to the samples. Such spiking may go unnoticed by doctors who use rapid tests instead of more sophisticated lab tests. The researchers say doctors shouldn’t cut patients off of the treatment drug for cheating because that could lead to overdose. Instead, a suspicious result should prompt a frank discussion and possibly a higher level of care.

            Moderna’s CEO is defending a plan to more than quadruple the company’s COVID-19 vaccine price. But he also says the drugmaker will work to ensure patients continue paying nothing at drugstores or clinics. Stephane Bancel appeared before a Senate committee Wednesday. He says the drugmaker will charge a list price of around $130 per dose for the vaccine in the U.S. That price is expected to go into effect later this year. Until now, the federal government had been Moderna’s lone U.S. customer, buying doses in bulk to make sure people weren’t charged anything.

            The governor of Massachusetts is reminding pharmacies that they are required to stock a key abortion pill, despite a nationwide effort by anti-abortion activists to ban the medication. Gov. Maura Healey sent out a statement Wednesday citing state regulations that pharmacies and pharmacy departments must have all reproductive health medications, including mifepristone. The Democratic leader's action comes as a federal judge in Texas is considering a lawsuit that would overturn decades-old federal approval of the drug. Healey said Massachusetts will always protect abortion access.

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